When pulling heavy items, when towing vehicles or when setting up a tent, a come-along is often useful. A come-along is desirable in these situations because it is a simple mechanism, is easy to transport and provides great pulling force.
A conventional come-along 50 is shown in FIGS. 1-5. FIG. 1 is a side partial-cutaway view of a conventional come-along 50. FIG. 2 is a front view of the conventional come-along 50. The come-along 50 has a main body 5 with a first hook 52 attached at a first end of the main body 5. The main body 5 includes an axial tube 1. The main body 5 includes a rope 3 or cable wound around the axial tube 1. A second hook 7 is connected to an end of the rope 3.
In operation, the second hook 7 is hooked to the load to be pulled such as a heavy item or a vehicle. The tightening and release of the second hook 7 is realized through the winding of the rope 3 to the axial tube 1. This operation often results in a messy or loose winding of the rope 3, as the rope 3 will typically be wound around the axial tube 1 in more than two layers. Once the rope 3 is pulled, it is possible that the outermost layer of the rope 3 coiled on the axial tube 1 will be tightened. When the outermost layer of the rope 3 tightens, it typically sinks under windings of the rope 3 of the inner layers. This creates difficulty in pulling the rope out of the layers of the loosely wound ropes, even resulting in breakage of the rope if the rope is pulled too hard.
FIG. 3 shows a top view of the axial tube 1 with a winding of rope 3 of the conventional come-along of FIG. 1. One end of the rope 3 is inserted and clamped into a positioning hole on the axial tube 1 to achieve secure connection. The inner end of the rope 3 is typically bent about 90 degrees coming out from the positioning hole in order to be wound onto the axial tube 1. Due to the fact that the rope is typically made of steel and accordingly possesses certain rigidity, there exists a perturbation 16, or bulge, around the bend. Moreover, this perturbation is generally telegraphed through subsequent layers of rope that are wound around the axial tube 1. This causes an off-roundness of the rope winding that results in an unevenness of the tightness of the rope. As a consequence, the ejection force of the rope will become uneven or the rope might get stuck on the axial tube which diminishes the usefulness of the come-along.
FIG. 4 is a side view of the conventional axial tube 1 with windings of the rope 3 and a clamp 60. FIG. 5 is a side view of the conventional axial tube 1 without rope 3. As shown in FIG. 4, the inner end of the rope 3 is clamped to the positioning hole that is on the axial tube 1. This is not a very secure fixturing method, as the rope is often pulled off the axial tube 1 after all the windings have been released. This affects the normal usage of the come-along and creates a certain risk of danger because the rope being pulled off the axial tube also results in a release of the load connected to the come-along.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for an improved come-along.